Valentino Rossi: Disappointment at missing out on a duel with Verstappen

The anticipation surrounding the clash between MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi and Formula 1 star Max Verstappen at the GT World Challenge Europe was not limited to those directly involved. After all, these two giants of motorsport are competing in the same race for the first time in Portimão. Ahead of the start of the race weekend, the nine-time motorcycling champion told ‘Sky Italia’: ‘It’s going to be fabulous, but at the same time Max Verstappen is going to be a huge problem because the bloke is just so incredibly fast.’

However, it seems unlikely that they’ll actually meet on the track, as qualifying ended disappointingly for the motorcycling hero. Although Rossi set a good lap time, it was disallowed for exceeding the track limits. As a result, Rossi will have to start from 59th on the grid alongside his team-mates Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen, whilst Verstappen, alongside Ben Barnicoat and Chris Lulham, will start the 3-hour race from 14th position.

In an interview with ‘Sky Italia’, Rossi lamented: “We’re very, very disappointed, because the lap was good, the weather was good and the time would have allowed us to start right next to Verstappen and also our team-mates in car number 32. So it would have been a good qualifying session.”

A bitter pill for Valentino Rossi

However, the disallowed lap time and the fact that he hadn’t made another attempt after his good lap prevented him from securing a good starting position. “To be honest, I’d expected as much. As I’d always left myself a bit of margin in all the tricky corners, but in Turn 4 I went just slightly over the track limits. I was close to another car, so I went a bit further out, and that’s what caused me to go over the limit,” explained Rossi.

“The problem was that, having set a good lap time, I still had one more lap left, but I was behind another car and slowed down because I thought to myself: ‘I’ve already set a lap time, and I’ll lose time anyway if I try to overtake him.’ In the end, we were left without a time and will start right at the back. It’s a shame; we could have battled it out with Verstappen as we were very close, and that would have been brilliant. But instead, this is how it’s turned out,” sighed the 47-year-old Italian.

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